


Save Yourself (I Can't Do It For You)

by eeyore9990



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Minor Braeden/Derek Hale, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Stiles is a bit of a sociopath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-05
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-30 04:59:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5151194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eeyore9990/pseuds/eeyore9990
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This boy in front of him had no softness inside him.  Only hard, jagged edges.  This boy would watch the world burn as long as his people were safe from the flames.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Save Yourself (I Can't Do It For You)

**Author's Note:**

> Moving this over here for archival purposes -- it's been up on my tumblr for a few weeks now, I think, so if it looks familiar, that's why!

The loft was filled with warm, late-afternoon light when the door rolled open and Stiles stepped through. Braeden, gun already in hand and pointed, nodded at him and lowered it, then slid it smoothly into the holster at the small of her back before going back to packing her bag. 

Derek raised his eyebrows at Stiles in question, because there was something going on with his heartbeat that was just… off. His scent had been muted ever since the Nogitsune, so that didn’t help Derek much. He was about to open his mouth and actually ask what Stiles was doing there when Stiles caught Braeden’s eye and something passed between them in that moment that had Braeden’s expression going blank before she tilted her head, slid a look across to Derek that he couldn’t read, and headed for the iron staircase. 

When her steps were too muffled for human ears to hear, Derek sat forward, planting his elbows on his knees as he looked at Stiles expectantly. 

“You need to leave.” 

Derek blinked, his mouth dropping open in surprise because that was… not what he’d expected. Not that he’d known what to expect, but that definitely had not been it. “What?” 

“You need to get in your car and get out of this town. Go with Braeden or without her, whatever. But you need to leave.” 

Silence but for the muffled thud of Braeden’s footsteps clicking against the upstairs bathroom tile fell over them as Derek sat there like a surprised guppy, mouth opening and closing uselessly. Swallowing, he rubbed a hand across his chest. “Scott sent you?” 

“No.” There it was again, that off-beat, too fast speed of Stiles’ heart that Derek suddenly recognized. 

“You’re scared.” 

Stiles’ head went back, a half-offended expression crossing his face before his eyes narrowed and he pursed his lips, considering Derek’s statement. “Yeah,” he finally allowed. “I am.” 

“You’re scared of… me?” 

Stiles snorted at that and rolled his eyes, their color deepening with something like anger. “Scared of–. Jesus. No, dude. _For_ you, okay? This town? This town is going to kill you. And I used to think that was okay. I thought maybe,” he shook his head, mouth forming silent shapes before he said, hard and cold, “I thought that’s what you wanted. But you, now? Yeah. _This_ you wants to live.” 

“Stiles, I’m not planning on–” 

Snarling, Stiles spit out, “You think your mom planned to burn to death, Derek? Do you think Laura planned to get ripped in fucking half by her psycho uncle?” 

Derek had been stabbed through the chest before; it felt an awful lot like that when those words punched through him. He couldn’t even speak, just let out a silent whine of grief. 

Dropping to the other end of the couch, Stiles waited a beat for Derek to recover the breath that had been knocked clean out of his lungs. “I have a list,” he finally said. “It’s always had a few people on it. People I’ll die for. People I’ll let others die for, that I’ll _kill_ for. My dad, Scott, my mom before….” 

Derek, still shaken, turned to see that Stiles was still staring at him, eyes looking too hard, too hollow for a seventeen year old kid. Looking a lot like they had when he’d been possessed, but Derek knew… this kind of emptiness had nothing to do with having a demon inside you. This was all about Stiles acknowledging the pit of darkness inside himself. 

“It sucked when Erica died. Boyd. But I realized it didn’t suck because I missed them. It sucked because that was one less person. One less bit of cannon fodder to protect Scott and my dad. There was always you, though. I knew you’d throw yourself between them and death, come what may.” 

Derek snorted, feeling a lot broken inside. “Nice to know–” 

“When you took that bullet,” Stiles said, his hard voice cutting Derek off. “I realized I don’t… I’m not okay with that. You’re important. To me. So you need to leave. Because I don’t want this town to add your name to the list of Hales it’s killed. And I can’t keep all of you safe. There are too many of you now.” 

Derek looked at Stiles, searching for the young, flailing dork he’d met all those months ago and… he was there. He had always been there. And that was a thought Derek had to shy away from. Because this boy in front of him had no softness inside him. Only hard, jagged edges. This boy would watch the world burn as long as his people were safe from the flames. 

“Stiles.” 

“I need you to leave, Derek. Because I can’t hesitate again. Not like I did in Mexico. There’s nothing for you here but death and Scott, my dad… they’re not done with this town. I have to stay here. I have to make sure they stay safe. So I need you to leave.” 

“Stiles!” Derek lurched forward onto his feet, hand reaching out to grab onto Stiles, who blinked, eyes lightening just a little, mobile mouth stretching into a smirk. “Stop talking like that. This isn’t…” _You_ , he wanted to say, but somehow he knew. 

He’d always known. 

This _was_ Stiles. It always had been Stiles. 

“What would you do if–?” Derek stopped himself from asking the question because he didn’t need to ask it. He didn’t _want_ to know what Stiles would do if anyone ever hurt one of the people on his list. 

Stiles’ smirk took on an edge. “Peter’s biggest problem as an alpha was that he lacked follow through. He wanted to play with his prey. I wouldn’t play around.” 

Derek swallowed, taking a step back, eyes flaring a bit as he felt the chill of fear snake down his spine. From this human. This… what did he call himself? Fragile? 

When Stiles smiled at him then, it was a little sad, a lot broken. He raised his hand, long fingers wrapping around the meat of Derek’s shoulder and squeezing. “I’ll see you around, dude.”


End file.
